The Appearance of Corruption: John McCain, Paxson, and Iseman

While McCain said "I don't recall" if he ever directly spoke to the firm's lobbyist about the issue—an apparent reference to Iseman, though she is not named—"I'm sure I spoke to [Paxson]." McCain agreed that his letters on behalf of Paxson, a campaign contributor, could "possibly be an appearance of corruption"—even though McCain denied doing anything improper.

Lifting Americans Up To Higher Ground: Mike Huckabee On the Road in Texas

MIKE HUCKABEE emails from Texas:

My candidacy is, and always has been, about convictions – and the issues and core values that are critical to our country’s future, such protecting traditional marriage, the sanctity of life, individual empowerment and a revamping of our federal tax code to encourage productivity. It’s about lifting Americans up, from hope to higher ground, with a positive vision for America’s future that is grounded in a belief in our nation’s basic goodness, and defined by a ‘can—do’ spirit that knows how to gets things done. My goal is to offer Republican voters, a voice and a choice in this election.

The last four out of five U.S. Presidents have been governors, and there is a reason for this: the challenges facing our nation require steady, experienced, executive management. As governor of Arkansas for 10 ½ years, I delivered on my promises to cut taxes 94 times, reduce welfare by half, reform health care for children and our education system, and transform our transportation infrastructure. My record of results, achieved with a Democrat legislature, gives a meaningful viability to my candidacy.

There are millions of Republicans from across this country who have yet to be heard from. Clearly we were disappointed by the results in Wisconsin, but I look forward to campaigning hard in Texas and Ohio this week – and taking my case before the good people of those states.

Have Coffee with Mike Huckabee in Hudson, Wisconsin

Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 8:00 a.m. For Coffee at the Hudson Bagel & Coffee Co. 800 Carmichael Road - Hudson, WI For more information or to RSVP: Robert.Kuykendall@explorehuckabee.com or (515) 473-8298

Mike Huckabee Takes On the Media

Barack says he'd like to "argue" with John McCain; Hillary questions Barack's integrity; John McCain says the general in the field and not the politician running for president should decide when troops come home; and Mike Huckabee says the media has prematurely called the race.

Mitt Romney: Pounding a Round Peg Into A Square Hole

HOWARD FINEMAN writes:

Here lieth the campaign of Mitt Romney, victim of the mistaken belief that the only way to succeed in national Republican politics was to turn yourself into something you are not. Or maybe the campaign revealed what his closest friends never imaged him to be. They thought he was a decent classy guy. But maybe he really is a soulless throat-cutter who would do and say anything to win.

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he was a good fellow who didn't know enough about national politics and listened to people who gave him bad, cynical advice.

Sen. John McCain was in a good position before; now it's hard to imagine that he won't wrap up the nomination in the next week or two. His lone remaining serious opponent, Mike Huckabee, has exceeded expectations, but expecting him to be able to unhorse McCain is perhaps expecting too much.

I have covered a lot of presidential campaigns, and I can't think of one that so lost its way-so expensively-as that of the former governor of Massachusetts. A board room and business favorite, a man with a Midas managerial touch, he was widely admired and even beloved. But he was a Republican of an old moderate school-that of his own father-and, like George W. Bush, Romney the Younger decided that he had to jettison all that he was to become something that he was not.

Mitt Romney Suspends His Presidential Bid

Watching 'breaking news' during a late lunch (sound relatively muted in busy cafeteria) and gathered from the images and scrolling type at the bottom of the screen that Mitt Romney has "suspended" his presidential bid... Whether or not this is permanent or how and why it occurred, I do not know as of now...

Political Baptism by Fire: Mike Huckabee No Longer A Dark Horse

With national polls showing him (Mike Huckabee) surging to the front of the GOP race, the candidate who promotes himself in television ads as a "Christian leader" is undergoing a political baptism by fire.

His better-funded, better-known rival, Mitt Romney, this week began airing campaign ads in Iowa attacking Mr. Huckabee's political record. He's facing scrutiny over his past attitudes toward gays and common-law couples. And, on Wednesday, Mr. Huckabee faced accusations he had deliberately disparaged rival Romney's Mormon religion.

"I'm going to be a lot more careful about everything I say, because I find that it gets amplified to a new level," Mr. Huckabee quipped during a Republican all-candidates debate in Des Moines.

Indeed. In just the last week, the media entourage following Mr. Huckabee has tripled amid his transformation from dark horse candidate to legitimate Republican contender.

The new interest comes on the heels of an ABC News-Washington Post survey this week which found support for GOP frontrunner Rudy Giuliani had slipped to 25% support nationally, with Mr. Huckabee jumping into second place with 19%. Mr. Romney sits third at 17%.

Huckabee: A Wild-Eyed Tax and Spend Liberal?

WWTD (What would Toomey do?)
Posted on December 8, 2007 by nuke

Pat Toomey of the Club for Growth made headlines yesterday (December 7th) by announcing a major political advertising campaign, specifically targeting Republican voters in Iowa and South Carolina. His stated purpose? To attack Mike Huckabee.

Pulling out an old video which has been on the web for several weeks now, Toomey uses an out of context theme to try and persuade Republican voters that there is no kind of tax that Huckabee doesn’t like, that in fact, Huckabee is a wild-eyed, tax and spend liberal.

Mike Huckabee for President, 2008

Health Care

The health care system in this country is irrevocably broken, in part because it is only a "health care" system, not a "health" system. We don't need universal health care mandated by federal edict or funded through ever-higher taxes. We do need to get serious about preventive health care instead of chasing more and more dollars to treat chronic disease, which currently gobbles up 80% of our health care costs, and yet is often avoidable. The result is that we'll be able to deliver better care where and when it's needed.

Mike Huckabee